Music is such a dynamic industry to be in. How have you made it part of your lives for over 25 years?Gaston: It's really a simple answer: it's the music. That's the thing that drives us. We couldn't imagine our lives without it. We would do anything to maintain this life and continue creating music.

Rene: We just take life as it comes. Sometimes we tour so much that we don't have time for the studio. When we finish our tours, we'll plan some time for the studio and for our families but it can be sort of difficult to plan because you never know when you're going to get booked or when a festival will reach out.

How have you managed these hectic schedules in the long term?Gaston: If you think too much about what you're doing in three months, it's going to drive you crazy. That's why I live week by week. Like this week I have to get on a plane, I have to master this new single, and I have to send some emails. What actually keeps me grounded is my life at home. I have a very understanding wife who has her own career and when I come home from touring, we work very hard to plan quality time. It's what we have to do, otherwise we won't see each other.

Rene: My girlfriend has her own career as well and is very understanding about what I do. I think they have to be understanding, otherwise it would be impossible to manage with our schedules. I think that our partners like us because of what we're doing. We're who we are because we make music and perhaps we're a bit weird.

You and Tommie Sunshine recently released "Tear This Mother Down" which marks the fourth collaboration between you two. What do you think of his Netflix show, "After the Rave" and do you have any plans to make an appearance on it?Rene: I watched it all and appreciated the variety of producers and DJs he had on the shows. I think he covered a lot of ground and went really in-depth into the scene. I liked the series. He might be planning a follow-up and we might be on it, we'll all just have to wait and see.

Gaston: Tommie really was born to do this. He's like a walking music encyclopedia who knows almost everything about every record that was ever made. That's his thing, and he loves to talk with people about it. When we get into the studio with him, it's not just about making music, we'll talk for hours about music and listen to dusty old records from the 70s as well as new tracks from soundcloud. It gets us inspired to create something new together.

How have you stayed away from some of the darker elements of house culture like with drugs and other negative influences?Rene: I think it's stupid to take drugs. I mean you can do that if you party once in a while but if you are DJing and you have to work: don't do drugs. The DJ life is already hard enough with the traveling and making music. If you want to stay healthy and do a good job, don't drink to much, eat right and stay clean.

Gaston: I've never done drugs, because honestly, music is my drug. It's really hard to stay sane and stay upbeat when you're away from home for extended periods of time. You've got to take care of yourself and stay positive. I see some of the DJs these days and it's like they're on a treadmill all year every year. Sometimes it's like that for us too but we know when to take step back.

Throughout the years, you've kept your finger on the pulse of what's happening and who's trending in the industry. Who are you watching and working with now from this new wave of producers? Gaston: In order to stay in this industry this long, it's very important to keep an eye out on who and what is coming up. For example, Carta is this really smart Chinese producer and while we were in Shanghai, he sent us a message on Twitter saying let's meet up. At the time, we didn't know who this kid was but we looked him up and liked what we saw. We couldn't think of any reason not to meet up and so we went out for dinner and ended having some great conversations with him.

At the end of the night, we all decided that we should make a record together and for us, it was fun to do a record with someone from China who has a whole different perspective on things. Carta was the one who said we should get Kris Kiss on this record because he really liked his style. We had worked with Kris before "Step Back" and "The Max," so we sent him the record and one hour later, he had sent us back the vocals for it. He works so fast and it was a really fun process to go through with all of them.

How was your experience at Imagine Festival 2018? How did you prepare for your set?Gaston: Actually we never prepare. We just gather new music, make new music and we just get on stage and see what happens. It's weird these days because many people are surprised that we don't prepare our sets, but that's just DJing for us.

Rene: It's all done on the spot. We read the crowd and because we each play one song and trade off, we never know what the next record will be. It's very dynamic and makes every show a little different. We've been doing it this way for like three-hundred years and don't see any reason to change now. It's just how we like to do things!

A huge thank you to Chocolate Puma, Imagine Festival, and Caren West PR for making this interview possible. We have included a video of the moment that Oliver Heldens and his team crashed our interview!